Remington M1867 - Birth of The M1867

Birth of The M1867

In the 1860s the Swedish and Norwegian armies realized that their standard rifles, both percussion lock breech-loading rifles and muzzle loaders, were rapidly becoming obsolete in the face of the new metal cartridge combining bullet, primer and propellant load. In early October 1866, a joint Swedish-Norwegian arms commission was established in order to select a suitable cartridge and rifle for the two nations.

Several different cartridges and rifles were considered by the commission. A partial list includes:

• Needle-guns

• A Prussian needlegun designed in 1866.
• Larsen and Steenstrup - two different modifications of the standard issue army rifle at the time.
• A modified Swedish standard army rifle.

• Non-repeating rifles for metallic cartridges:

• Peabody - American lever-action
• Remington - American, rolling block
• Larsen - two related, but different Norwegian designs. One lever-action, one bolt action

• Repeating rifles for metallic cartridges:

• Spencer - American design, removable magazine in the buttstock
• Henry - American design, tubular magazine under the barrel
• Larsen - Norwegian modification of the Henry

• Repeating rifles for paper cartridges:

• Palmcrantz - Swedish design (See Helge Palmcrantz)

• Percussion rifles:

• Burnside - American design with metallic cartridge
• Sharps - American design using paper cartridges

After various tests, including repeated firings, it was clear that the needle guns were not particularly well-suited. These - along with the repeating rifles - were dropped from further testing. Further testing - which included test firing by previously untrained troops - showed that both the Peabody and the Remington was suitable for issuing to the field army. In the end, the commission based their decision on price and complexity. The Remington totalled a mere 25 parts to the Peabody's 37, and it was approved for use by both the Swedish and the Norwegian armed forces, as their standard military rifle, on 22 November 1867.